What you’re signing · Updated for 2026
The Texas buyer representation agreement
There’s a form you sign now before anyone unlocks a door for you, and most people sign it without reading it. Nearly everything written about it calls it a national industry rule from 2024. Since January 1, 2026 it’s also Texas law — and the law is more specific than the rule was. Here’s what’s in the document, in the order you’ll meet it.
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Six things it has to say
Hold this against your own copy.
Texas law now lists what a buyer representation agreement must contain. Not what it should contain — what it must. If you have been handed one, open it beside this list. Six rows, and every one of them is a question you are allowed to ask out loud before you sign anything.
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What the agent is actually going to do for you
In the statute: services
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The date it ends
In the statute: termination date
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Whether it is exclusive or not
In the statute: exclusive or non-exclusive
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Whether they represent you — or expressly do not
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What they are paid, and how that number is worked out
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In conspicuous language: that broker compensation is not set by law and is fully negotiable
Texas Occupations Code § 1101.563, added by Senate Bill 1968 — in force January 1, 2026. Enforcement at § 1101.652(a)(34). “Residential” here means a single-family house, a duplex, triplex or quadraplex, or a condominium or co-op unit. Where the statute applies and there is no written agreement, TREC may suspend or revoke a license for failing to enter into one.
Why the advice you are reading disagrees with itself
There are two rules here, and they are not the same rule.
One is a national industry rule from 2024. The other is Texas law from 2026. They overlap enough that most explainers treat them as one thing, and they differ in the two ways that decide whether either applies to you.
Since August 2024
The industry rule
- When it bites
- Before touring a home, in person or on a live video tour.
- Who it binds
- MLS participants and REALTOR® members.
- If it is broken
- It is a membership and listing-service matter.
National Association of REALTORS® — Written Buyer Agreements 101
Since January 1, 2026
Texas law
- When it bites
- Before an agent shows you a residential property — or, if nothing is shown, before they present an offer for you.
- Who it binds
- Every Texas license holder, member or not.
- If it is broken
- TREC may suspend or revoke a license for failing to enter into one.
Texas Occupations Code § 1101.563 · enforcement at § 1101.652(a)(34)
If you just want to see one house
There’s a document for the other case, where you want to walk through one house and hire nobody. It’s a showing agreement, and since January it has its own form, TXR 1508. What makes it a different animal is the two limits the statute writes into it: no exclusivity, and a hard ceiling of 14 days. Whoever opens the door for you isn’t representing you, and what they can say to you is bounded by that.
Texas does not say “dual agency”
What happens when one brokerage has both sides.
Your agreement has a checkbox about this, and it is the one people skate past. Texas calls it intermediary status. It means the brokerage — not your individual agent — is holding both ends of the deal, and it only happens if you agree to it in writing.
The moment you consent, four limits apply
- May not tell the buyer the seller will take less than the asking price.
- May not tell the seller the buyer will pay more than the written offer.
- May not disclose what either side said in confidence.
- Must treat both sides honestly and act fairly and impartially.
And one thing Texas has that most states do not
Elsewhere this is usually the point at which nobody can advise anybody. Here, the broker may appoint a different agent to advise each side, and each of those two may still give real advice. Without that step, the agent may move the deal along but may not advise either side.
So the question to ask is not only whether you are agreeing to intermediary status. It is whether the broker will appoint separate people if it happens — because that is the difference between still having someone in your corner and having a referee.
Texas Occupations Code §§ 1101.559–1101.561, and the conduct limits at § 1101.651(d). Subagency was removed from Texas license law on January 1, 2026, so a page still explaining subagency to you was written before 2026.
Blanks, not boilerplate
What in it is still a blank.
A printed form reads like a settled thing. Most of what matters in this one arrives as an empty line somebody fills in, and the law requires the document to tell you so about the most important of them.
How long it runs
The form has blanks at both ends. There is no default length printed on it and no length set by law.
Where it applies
The "market area" is a blank. It can be a county, a city, a few zip codes — or one address.
What you pay, and how it is worked out
The law requires the agreement to say in conspicuous language that this is not set by law and is fully negotiable.
Exclusive or not
The statute requires the agreement to state which it is, which means both exist. The long form is written as exclusive; a different arrangement means a different form or a negotiated change.
What the agent will actually do
The services have to be stated. Stated means agreed, and agreed means discussed.
The protection period
The window after the agreement ends during which you may still owe a fee on a home they introduced you to. Its length is a blank.
Two things worth knowing before that conversation: NAR cautions its own members against pre-filling the length and the compensation, and the January 2026 version of the long form added an optional retainer paid to the broker — so if there is one on your copy, it is new, and it is a fair thing to ask about.
Asked before signing
Six questions buyers ask about this document.
Does TREC have a buyer representation agreement form?
No — which catches people out, because TREC promulgates almost everything else you'll sign. Its own contracts page — the one listing every form it promulgates and approves — says it does not promulgate listing or buyer representation agreements and points you to a trade association instead. The form most Fort Worth buyers are handed is Texas REALTORS® TXR 1501, the Buyer/Tenant Representation Agreement — Long Form — retitled in January 2026 from Residential Buyer/Tenant Representation Agreement — Long Form, which is a quick way to tell whether something you are reading online is current. There is also a short form, TXR 1507. TREC's form in this workflow is the Information About Brokerage Services notice, which is a different document doing a different job. And because only members of Texas REALTORS® may use its forms, a brokerage that is not a member uses its own or an attorney's — the statutory requirements are identical either way.
Am I stuck with my agent if it is not working out?
It's a binding contract, which is why this is a question for before you sign rather than after. Texas Real Estate Commission's own answer is unusually blunt: you can ask the broker to release you, and TREC has no authority to make them. In practice both sides sign a termination — Texas REALTORS® publishes TXR 1503 for it, and its January 2026 revision added language emphasizing exactly that. Some obligations are written to survive termination. The two things that genuinely help are choosing a shorter term at the start, and asking what the brokerage does when somebody wants out.
My agent is moving to another brokerage. Do I go with them?
Not automatically. Your agreement is with the brokerage, not the individual agent — so if your agent moves firms, the agreement stays behind with their old broker. Texas Real Estate Commission states it plainly: the buyer would still be represented by the sales agent's previous broker. You can ask to be released so you can follow them, and that's a normal request — but it's a request, not a right, and it's easier before your agent's last day than after.
The line people skim past
You’re signing with the brokerage, not the agent.
Can I sign with two different agents at once?
Not under the standard long form. It asks you to confirm you aren't already committed to another broker for the same market area — and that market area is a blank the two of you fill in, so the restriction is scoped to the geography you agreed, not to the whole state. Signing two overlapping exclusive agreements is how a buyer ends up owing two fees on one house. Non-exclusive arrangements do exist; the statute requires every agreement to state which kind it is. If you want one, say so before anything is signed, because the long form is written as exclusive.
What is a protection period, and how long am I on the hook after the agreement ends?
A protection period is a window after the agreement ends during which you can still owe the fee if you buy a home that broker introduced you to — it exists so an agent can't be cut out at the last minute on a house they found. The honest answer to "how long" is that no law sets it and the form leaves it blank: it's negotiated, like the term and the fee. Which is the whole argument for reading it first. Ask what number is in that blank, and ask what's on the list of properties it applies to.
Is the representation agreement the same as the Information About Brokerage Services form?
No — and you'll often be handed both in the same meeting, which is where it gets muddled. The Information About Brokerage Services notice is a TREC disclosure explaining how brokers can represent people. You get it at the first substantive conversation about a specific property, and it commits you to nothing: it's information, not a contract. The representation agreement is the contract — it's what creates the relationship, sets the term and sets the fee. One tell that a brokerage's paperwork is current: IABS 1-1 should not be used after December 31, 2025, so the version you're handed should be IABS 1-2.
Sources for the Texas statute and form detail on this page, verified September 2026: Texas Occupations Code Chapter 1101 · Senate Bill 1968 (89th Legislature) · TREC — promulgated and approved forms · TREC — Information About Brokerage Services · Texas REALTORS® — forms changes for January 2026 · NAR — Written Buyer Agreements 101. The statute is quoted by section; the trade-body forms are described rather than cited by paragraph, because paragraph numbers move at every revision and Texas REALTORS® last revised this one in January 2026 (Details of Forms Changes for January 2026). Everything above describes how the document works. What it means for your copy of it is a question for an attorney, and we’ll say so again in person.
Two more things nobody explains at the table
The other form, and the way out.
The one that is not a contract
Information About Brokerage Services
You’ll be handed this one too, usually in the same conversation. It’s a TREC notice explaining how brokers can represent people, and you get it at the first substantive conversation about a specific property. It commits you to nothing. Read it. It still isn’t the thing you’re signing up to.
A quick check that the paperwork in front of you is current: IABS 1-1 should not be used after December 31, 2025. The version you want to see is IABS 1-2.
Texas Occupations Code § 1101.558(b-1)
Before you sign, not after
Getting out of one
This is a binding contract, and the regulator is unusually direct about what that means: you can ask the broker to release you, and TREC has no authority to make them. In practice both sides sign a termination, on a form published for the purpose — TXR 1503.
Which is the real argument for a shorter term at the start. An agreement you’re happy to renew is a better arrangement than one you have to be released from, and nothing stops you asking for the first one.
Texas Real Estate Commission — Buyer representation agreement FAQ
We will walk through ours line by line before you sign anything, and answer the questions on this page about our own paperwork.
Fort Worth & Tarrant County
Read it with somebody who will answer the awkward questions.
It’s a contract, and the stakes in it outlast the meeting where you sign it. Bring us your copy — ours or anyone else’s — and we’ll go through it line by line: what the term does, what the protection period covers, what the fee is and how it gets settled. You’ll leave knowing what you’re signing, whoever you end up signing with.
Or call or text (817) 631-9803
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